I found this a very light and enjoyable review of Antonia and Jonna Mendez's experience in the CIA. There's some politics and office drama that didn't totally make sense to me, but by and large, it was a fascinating account of the crazy things our government has done. It almost makes conspiracy theorists look sane. ( )

Antonio Mendez is a former CIA technical operations officer who has recently become rather well known, thanks in large part to the blockbuster Argo, starring Ben Affleck, that has recently hit theaters. The movie is based upon a memoir written by Mendez himself, published in 2012. The lesser known Spy Dust, a memoir written and published almost a decade earlier, describes some of Mendez’s exploits during the mid to late 1980s, during the latter years of the Cold War.

I first became interested in Mendez’s writing when I stumbled across his first book, The Master of Disguise. I don’t remember how, exactly, I came to do so, but as I recall I had recently been reading a memoir by Robert Baer, and suspect that it somehow led me to Mendez’s story.

At any rate, The Master of Disguise in due time led me to Spy Dust, and I have to say that I very much enjoyed this book. Mendez’s prose is a little unpolished, but really quite good, and he’s a natural-born storyteller. Mendez’s wife, Jonna, also a veteran of the CIA, co-wrote the book; during the period covered in the story, they grew from colleagues and coworkers to friends, and, eventually, much more. She, too, turned out to be quite a raconteur. The story is told from the perspective of both, each chapter taking it in turns to tell a portion of the story from his point of view, and then from hers.

Of course, I may be giving them more praise than they deserve; Bruce Henderson is also listed as co-author, and is, by all accounts, quite a talented writer. While Henderson’s skill unquestionably enhanced the book in drawing the two perspectives together, however, I would hesitate to give him the lion’s share of the credit. I’ve sampled some of Henderson’s other books, and while I very much liked Fatal North, Down to the Sea failed to hold my interest; he’s good, but the narrative is what makes this book great.

Regardless of who deserves the glory, the end result is a vastly entertaining, truly engrossing story that reads like a thriller. John le Carre could scarcely have come up with a better plot. Shades of The Russia House, come to life, the book recounts efforts by the CIA to develop and protect assets in their battle against agents of communist Russia during the height of the Cold War. The most gripping account in the book describes the details of an intricate operation designed to assist a Soviet defector and his family in seeking asylum in the United States. I don’t want to tell you how it ends but, suffice it to say, in the best tradition of the ‘80s, the good guys win.

I was in Europe for much of the period Mendez covers in this book, and even now can easily call to mind memories of the hovering uncertainty and tension that colored every moment. Oddly enough, my family and I had also escaped Tehran shortly before the events depicted in Mendez’s more well-known book, Argo. I’ve not yet read Argo, but I certainly intend to very soon; Spy Dust was most certainly well worth the time invested, and I am looking forward to another adventure with Mendez, et al; a bona fide George Smiley and crew. ( )

Covers much of the same era as Milt Bearden's "The Main Enemy" from a technological and disguise standpoint. Thus, this takes a deeper and more specific look at the Year of the Spy and some of the challenges of the close of the Cold War espionage in Moscow. Overall, it is well written and interesting. My only complaints is the way the personal lives of the authors permeate so much of the story. At times, it detracted from the overall picture being painted. It's a good, quick read that accomplishes its purposes of preserving this specific component of Cold War history. ( )